[R]4:00PM New York, 10:00PM Frankfurt, 8:00AM next day Sydney[/R]

European Markets

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 130.90 or 2.02% to 6,348.50, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 99.29 or 1.78% to close at 5,446.79, and in Frankfurt DAX index decreased 99.72 or 1.26% to close at 7,808.69. In Zurich trading SMI closed lower 188.84 or 2.27% to close at 8,129.98.

North American Markets indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 256.54 or 1.96% to a close of 12,800.18, S&P 500 was down 35.54 or 2.45% to 1,411.62, and Nasdaq Composite Index traded down 98.03 or 3.77% to a close of 2,504.65.

In Toronto TSX Composite lost 192.95 or 1.38% to close at 13,785.25.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average, 2 closed higher, 28 closed lower, and none was unchanged.

Intel led the decliners in the index with a loss of 8.3% followed by decreases in Hewlett Packard of 5.8%, in Alcoa and IBM of 3.5%, in Home Depot of 3.2%, and in Honeywell International of 3.02%.

Coca Cola rose 0.34% and Johnson & Johnson gained 0.32%.


Of the stocks in S&P 500, 41 closed higher, 457 fell, and 2 were unchanged.

Two hundred and fourteen stocks fell more than 3% and one rose more than 3%.

SLM Corp led the decliners in the index with a fall of 14% followed by losses in Regions Financial of 11%, in DR Horton of 10.2%, in Jones Apparel of 9.6%, in Centex of 9.4%, in Freddie Mac of 8.9%, and in Nvidia Corp of 8.4%.

FPL Group led the gainers in the index with a rise of 3.1% followed by increases in First Energy of 2.56%, in Clear Channel of 1.9%, and in Southern Company 1.78%.

South American Markets Indexes

In Latin Markets Brazil led the decliners in the region with a loss of 2.95% followed by decreases in Chile of 2.74%, in Mexico of 1.83%, in Argentina of 1.01%, and in Peru of 0.3%.

Venezuela, the only gainer in the region, rose 0.51%.


Asian Markets

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index closed lower 616.37 or 4.03% to 14,691.41, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index closed higher 632.41 or 2.35% to 27,519.69, in Australia ASX 200 increased 12.80 or 0.20% to close 6,385.40.